Innsbruck and travelling to Lake Garda

Sunday 30th June Innsbruck

We left the village of Krimml after breakfast. We took a beautiful drive through the mountains on the Gerlos Pass, stopping off at various points to look at the lovely views. It was worth paying the  8 euro toll on this road. We stopped for coffee just outside Zell am Ziller and then continued to Innsbruck.

It was a lovely sunny Sunday and Innsbruck was very busy.  We found it impossible to park in the city centre so we drove back out to the edge of town and parked in a leafy street.  Back to the ‘park and ride’ scheme. We got the bikes off and then cycled back into the centre.  Innsbruck is a lovely city to wander around and today with its mountain backdrop and sunny weather it was especially so.  Our first stop was the Hofburg – a Hapsburg palace and from there into the medieval old town.  The highlight here is the gothic oriel built for Emperor Maximillian 1 known as the ‘Goldenes Dachl due to its 2657 fire-gilt copper tiles.

From the centre we could see on the outskirts the ski jump known as Bergisel. It was designed by an Iraqi architect Zaha Halid. It looked fun so we decided to cycle up to it. It was a good climb on the road and we were both hot when we got there.  We stopped for a breather and to take in the wonderful views.

Cycling back down was more fun! We passed a beautiful church, a hotel made famous for the few days that the 13 year old Mozart stayed with his father before a concert, the Hofkirche and the Volkskunst museum. The latter two being fine buildings.

It was about 4pm when we were got back to the van so we got some more euros to fill up with LPG and diesel (knowing it would be more expensive in Italy) and headed off for the Brenner Pass. We had a lovely drive in the evening sunshine through the Pass and then up and over the mountains through Vipitens and the Passo di Monte Giovo. However, it was a tiring drive for Mike and we eventually found somewhere to pull off the road near St. Leonardo surrounded by a beautiful meadow and a babbling brook. Next morning we were woken by a tractor brining its two churns of milk down from the farm for the milk tanker. It was a very rural picture.

Monday 1^st July Travelling to Lake Garda

After breakfast we continued our beautiful drive through the twon of merino and then the Passo de Palada. On this mountain pass we were able to fill up with water and we also found a lovely picnic area to stop for coffee.  It was obviously a favoured walking trail area with lots of walks signposted but only a few visible hikers.

For lunch we stopped at the picturesque town of Molveno which sat on the edge of beautiful lake with more stunning mountains in the background.  It was difficult to park here as the majority of the car parks had low height barriers (designed to keep out motorhomes). The only spot suitable for motorhomes cost 22 euros for parking and overnight stay but as we only wanted to stop for an hour we weren’t going to pay that. We eventually found a car park that had ‘no motorhome’ signs but no height barrier so we went in there and had our lunch on the lakeside.

After lunch we continued our drive arriving in Lake Garda mid afternoon.  We had not identified any campsites before arrival and now we were in high season. We tried a couple of places and then found one we liked at the top end of the lake in Riva del Garda. It cost 30 euros a night including electricity and wifi and it had its own little beach area right by the lake.  It turned out to be a lovely place to have our morning coffee and to sit to watch the world go by.

We spent the afternoon by the lake and in the evening we walked into the town centre. It was quite ‘buzzy’ with all  the people there. It was also the Garda Jazz festival and we picked up the end of a film about a French jazz musician. We then walked back to the campsite along the lake in the dark managing to get in before the back gates closed at 11.30pm.